This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.
The original was posted on /r/cfb by /u/Andjhostet on 2023-11-02 16:08:46.
There’s been a lot of talk about how Big XII totally messed up by not giving teams more protected rivalries. As an ISU fan, it’s definitely sad that we won’t be playing KSU or KU.
But it’s clear the Big XII is prioritizing new rivalries, to create some semblance of inclusion and identity for the newer members of the conference. They are doing this with what I’m calling, a 3/4 rival system, where you play 4-6 teams in the conference 3 out of every 4 years, while still ensuring that you play everyone in the conference at least twice in 4 years.
This is a cool system, and the more I think about it, the more I like it. I think the Big XII’s logic, is that playing 3 out of every 4 years will help develop new rivalries, a lot faster than it will cool existing rivalries, and I think I agree. This setup will allow teams like ASU-TTU to develop cool rivalries, that just wouldn’t be possible in the pods or 3 protected rival setup that everyone is suggesting (because ASU would probably get Zona, CU, BYU, Utah before they’d get a protected matchup with TTU).
Without further ado, here’s the Big 12 football Matrix, but with all 3/4 rivals shown (If I missed any, let me know. Excel’s conditional formatting was being a little weird and not highlighting some of them for whatever reason).
I really like some of these. Zona-UH, ASU-TTU, Utah-TCU and many more are some potentially really fun rivalries that can develop, that would not be able to in the flex protect/pods system that people are proposing. ISU-OSU and ISU-WVU are two series I’m excited to see continue that likely would not have been possible, and ISU-Cinci and ISU-UCF are two series I’m excited for the future.
That being said, there are some that make no sense, like BYU-KU, BYU-UCF, CU-UH are some headscratchers. And it’s a travesty that BYU-TCU (old MWC rivals), BYU-CU (state neighbors), and UCF-UH (AAC rivals and space buddies) are not paired up as 3/4 rivals. CU could have also gotten a little more Big 8 love with OSU, KU or ISU but oh well.
Now, I have no idea if this will be a cyclical thing, where the plan is to play these teams 3/4 years in perpetuity, or this is a one off thing.
Thoughts?